Every workplace has conflict. It's inevitable -- from minor tiffs with coworkers or clients to heated arguments about resources or priorities. You might think your workplace is the exception, but it's more likely that you may be suffering from groupthink or overlooking some hidden resistance.
A bit of healthy conflict is actually good for a workplace. It strengthens teams and ideas, leads to more innovation, and produces higher-quality work.
Your ability to handle all types of conflict — both healthy and unhealthy — is the ultimate measure of your skills as a leader.
The Biggest Test of Your Leadership Skills
Your leadership skills are truly tested in moments of conflict, and the temperature of the situation will naturally clue you into the skills you will need to handle the conflict appropriately.
During calm times, you might focus on vision-building and aligning your team to avoid unproductive conflict or handle minor misalignments. But when conflicts heat up, you'll need to bring out the big guns -- emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and collaboration.
Your toolbox should also include communication and collaboration skills, flexibility, thoughtful planning and decision-making, and, most importantly, problem-solving skills. It's essential to be able to approach a conflict as solving a problem rather than as a "me vs. you" situation. You need to be able to solve a problem rather than "be right."
The reason it's so important to develop all these different skills as a leader is so you can have the right tools to deal with each type of conflict. Because when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When things go screwy, you want a screwdriver in your toolbelt (even as cathartic as it sounds to take a whack at your problem with something heavy).
Different Types of Conflict
Conflicts can range from silent tensions to all-out brawls. Silent conflicts can be
simmering below the surface, slowly undermining morale and productivity. Perceptive leaders are able to bring these issues into the open before they escalate into something more dramatic. Louder, more obvious conflicts, while incredibly uncomfortable, can be easier to resolve because they are out in the open.
All conflicts boil down to the people involved and the skills and tools they have to communicate and collaborate. The fundamental leadership skills needed to handle conflicts are the same, from silent treatments to shouting matches.
Conflicts also happen at all levels of a company. While they may not appear the same from entry-level employees to senior directors, it's the impact that is different—not the skills needed to navigate them. Conflicts can have much more significant repercussions at higher levels, like the boardroom. That's why those infamous pissing matches in the boardroom can seem so dramatic—they have bigger stakes.
Cultures and Conflict Styles
An organization's culture plays a significant role in the types of conflicts that arise and how they are resolved. Good leaders can adjust and shift the culture to make it easier to resolve unproductive conflict and spur healthy conflict by meeting people where they are.
Each team within an organization can also have its own mini-culture and preferred style of handling conflict. By understanding these subtleties, leaders can customize their conflict resolution approach to fit the team's unique characteristics.
Unproductive or unhealthy conflicts within a team often hint at gaps in leadership skills. If your team repeatedly encounters conflicts that escalate or remain unresolved, it might indicate areas for leadership development.
How leaders use their skills to deal with conflict determines if a situation will turn to chaos or if the resolution will elevate the whole organization. Embracing conflict can strengthen leadership skills and enhance organizational culture.
Want to work on building your conflict resolution toolbox? Let's schedule a chat today.
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